A new play by Caridad Svich based on Julia Alvarez’s novel
Directed by José Zayas
“Caridad Svich has made my book spring to life on stage.”
~author Julia Alvarez, quoted in HOY Digital
With immersive video and animation dispersed across the stage, the piece paints a visual dreamscape of the interior lives of the activist sisters, the beauty and ferocity of the natural world, and the music heard on the radio of the time. . Based on Julia Álvarez’s popular novel, “In The Time of the Butterflies,” is a fictionalized account of the story of the courageous Mirabal sisters from the Dominican Republic. The sisters inspired resistance cells throughout the country against the dictatorial regime of Gen. Rafael Leónidas Trujillo. The ‘butterflies’, their secret code name, were brutally murdered by the regime in 1960.
Full-length in two acts.
Cast: 6 women, one male, Running time: 100 minutes.
Press Quotes:
“[Critics pick!] Svich’s play largely does justice to his story of injustice. An inventive production.”
Backstage.com
“Svich undertook the challenge of translating Alvarez’s three-hundred page, polyphonic work into a 100-minute play with respectful independence from the original; the result is an artistic success, a major dramatic accomplishment that turns the theatrical version into the natural and inevitable complement to the novel. From the Bergman-esque opening scene of the four youthful sisters chasing butterflies in their garden to the grim finale, decades later, in that same garden, the play unfolds in a crescendo of anticipated tension punctuated by bursts of joy, tenderness, and humor (with no intermission, the two acts flow seamlessly). But what prevents En el tiempo de las mariposas from being yet another Brecht-like exercise in declamatory politics an exercise too often abused in New York Latino theater is the fact that it is also, and essentially, a play about human relations: the loving but conflicting relationship among sisters; the relationship between women and men (between daughters and father, wives and husbands, even between landladies and employees); and the infamously perverted relationship between Trujillo and his own people.” ~Claudio Remeseira, Hispanic New York
Photos from Uruguay 2012 premiere of BUTTERFLIES
Script History:
The script was commissioned by Repertorio Espanol/Spanish Repertory in New York City. It is the first ever stage adaptation of this novel.
It received its Spanish-language premiere at Repertorio Espanol/Spanish Repertory in February 2011 under the direction of Jose Zayas. Scenic, costume and lighting design: Robert Federico, video, projection and animation design by Alex Koch, soundscape and music by Jane Shaw. Additional Spanish language translation by Marco Antonio Rodriguez and Yolanny Rodriguez. The cast was as follows: Rosie Berrido (Patria), Dalia Davi (Minerva), Maria Helan Lopez (Maria Teresa), Zulema Clares (Young Dede), Teresa Perez Frangie (Old Dede), Flor de Liz Perez (American Woman) and Fermin Suarez (DJ/Trujillo/Lio Morales and Rufino). www.repertorio.org/mariposas
The Author’s English-language version of the play has not premiered as of this writing.
Feature articles and reviews:
Review for Milagro Theatre production, in Portland Oregon
Review: “In The Time of the Butterflies” (Teatro Vista), by Sarah Bowden, Theatre By Numbers, April 26, 2016
In the Time of the Butterflies, by Jacob Davis, Chicago Critic, April 24, 2016
Float like a butterfly: In the Time of the Butterflies, by Kel Munger, News Review (Sacramento), May 1, 2014
‘In the Time of the Butterflies’ Soars NBC San Diego, by Dita Quiñones. January 22, 2014
New York Latin Culture review.
En el Tiempo de las Mariposas (In the Time of the Butterflies) at Repertorio Español. Backstage review by Jonathan Mandell. February 21, 2011
Theater Review: “En el tiempo de las mariposas” – Hispanic New York Project. By Claudio Iván Remeseira (HNYP) h
AARP VIVA|In the Time of the Butterflies AARP VIVA. by Erasmo Guerra. March 7, 2011
En el tiempo de las Mariposas/In the Time of the butterflies. nytheatre.com review by Montserrat Mendez. March 5, 2011
Resisting Trujillo While Staying Stylish, New York Times review by Anita Gates, February 21, 2011
“En el tiempo de las mariposas” llega a un teatro de Nueva York. Por Agencia EFE – 02/02/2011
Review of Uruguay production from La Cuna Cerrada, March 29, 2013
Sisters united: “In the Time of the Butterflies” at Mixed Blood, Star Tribune review of Mixed Blood Production in Minneapolis. April 2, 2013
Cherry and Spoon review of Mixed Blood Production in Minneapolis. April 13, 2013
Tiempo de mariposas article on Uruguay production
Interviews:
Two-part Interview with Caridad Svich by Lanie Zipoy, March 8, 2011
San Diego Free Press interview By Alejandra Enciso Guzmán, January 15, 2014